Monday, February 16, 2009

I am pleased to share this picture book which was sent to me by William Marks, the independent author/publisher of 3 wonderful books. He is also the father of 3 young children.

Rhyme is the ideal picture book to review on President's Day. It's the story of a pig named Rhyme who lives in the town of Muck. He is popular amongst the other pigs and gets elected to the Sty Council. Rhyme's slogan throughout the story becomes "Dirt Doesn't Hurt" and all the pigs are happy as he is successful in keeping the streets dirty. When Rhyme takes time off to move to another city, his archrival, Ulyses S. Grunt is elected Penator and cleans up the streets. The the pigs of Muck are unhappy. Rhyme realizes he misses his dirty town and returns to Muck. He defeats Grunt and is elected Penator and once again, the streets of Muck are dirty and every pig is joyful.

William Marks is the founder of MPC Press which stands for (Marks Publishing Company). It's always inspiring to know that" if you have a book that you want to print and can't find a publisher, you can always do it yourself." (quote taken from Will's interview at Book Bites for Kids on BlogtalkRadio). Also, if you have written a book and you are not an illustrator, Will suggests searching the internet for artists. That's how he found Erin Gennow.

Erin's watercolors are sweet and fun. It made me laugh to see all the shops and buildings she illustrated for the town of Muck with names like Boar-ders Books, the Church of Styentology and Pen-ny's Cafe.

Rhyme is a great book for teaching children about famous Presidential speeches. There is a glossary at the end with the original sources for Rhyme's famous speeches. For instance, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address becomes the source for:

Four boars, whom some of you may know,

Found this land seven years ago.

Right here where you're sitting down,

They brought forth Muck, a new town-

Where every pig, every snout

Is created equal, none left out.

...So I say to this crowd:

Of Muck we shall all be proud

The speeches make it extra fun for parents to read aloud to their kids. Enjoy President's Day!